Outdoors for wellbeing #10 – Foraging for Health and Wellbeing

We bring you today’s blog courtesy of our friend Lindsay from Wee Folk of the Woods. The Wee Folk offer foraging walks, advice and recipes, you can also find them on Facebook.

Foraging for health & well-being

Guest blog by The Wee Folk Of The Woods

‘This past year, living through a global pandemic, has been hard on everyone we know, mental health has become a focus for many, as we struggle with restrictions on all areas of our lives which has impacted us mentally, physically, emotionally and even financially.

So, what if we told you there was a way to help ease the impact, perhaps just a little, or for some, maybe a lot?’

Foraging and resilience

‘It’s widely documented that the outdoors and nature can help mental well-being and make us feel more relaxed and able to cope with life challenges, and we as foragers have found our passion (and profession), do just that.

We are surrounded, even in the urban environment, by an amazing array of plants and fungi that are edible, extremely healthy and free! What better way to enjoy our daily walks than to find and harvest tasty treats that help towards a healthy diet and towards reducing our dreaded food shop bill as we enjoy our local surroundings?! We love nothing more than getting into local woodlands or riverside walks to enjoy nature and find FREE FOOD! It’s good for the soul and great for your pocket…!’

Spring foraging

‘While winter has been cold, dark and long with a lack of plants and fungi to forage, Mother Earth is waking up and spring is just around the corner. The Wee Folk are getting busy gathering and preparing for the abundance ahead. All over the country right now, plants such as wild garlic, pink purslane, hedge garlic and wild leeks are popping through, providing some much needed fresh greens after the long winter. These tasty little plants make lovely additions to salads, soups, stews and make mouthwatering pesto to be enjoyed simply with pasta (we all have some left still that we bought in the pandemic don’t we??).

Foraging is a great way to reconnect with nature and our food, listening to the birds tweet as you pick a nice spring salad is rewarding, not to mention you know exactly where it came from not just out a packet from the supermarket.’

Share your ideas

Have you ever been foraging? Would you like to give it a try?

Say hi on Twitter, or if you’re in Falkirk get in touch with Ania@otbds.org to find out more about the Falkirk Food Connections project.

Check out the other blogs in our Outdoors for Wellbeing blog series ????

Image by Jonathan Sautter from Pixabay